Giddy Up! - Erik Lane's Blog

Rocky Mountain Tech Tri-Fecta 2009

erik.nospam@nospam.eriklane.com (eriklane) — Fri, 06 Feb 2009 04:51:00 -1200

When: February 21, 2009 8am - 5pm

Where: Metro State College – Denver, CO

The Rocky Mountain Tech Tri-Fecta is a free, information-packed day of practical training and information concentrated in .NET, SQL Server, and Microsoft Windows technologies. There will be a total of 51 sessions on a wide range of interesting topics by top rock stars in the .NET, SQL Server, and Windows Server arenas.

The schedule and sessions have been announced on the website. There is going to be a wide range of topics in each of the tracks. My bet is that most will provide you with code/demo's/ideas that you can use TODAY.

Giddy Up!

Pidgin Cannot Retrieve MSN Address Book

erik.nospam@nospam.eriklane.com (eriklane) — Mon, 12 Jan 2009 03:33:00 -1200

Looks like Microsoft’s servers made a change that affected users of Pidgin. I was getting this error and after searching google and twitter I found out that the fix is a plug-in called msn-pecan.

As a windows user:

I exited pidgin
Ran the msn-pecan installer
Started pidgin again
Modified my account from MSN to WLM
All is well in the IM world

Giddy Up!

VisualSVN Server MMC Error

erik.nospam@nospam.eriklane.com (eriklane) — Fri, 02 Jan 2009 10:14:00 -1200

I’m just posting this in the event it helps someone out in the future.

I have VisualSVN Server installed in Windows 2003 server with the Subversion repositories located on a network share.
The account running the VisualSVN Server service is a domain account that has full control over the repository location.
I have no issues with TortoiseSVN from remote machines.

I opened up the VisualSVN Server Manager Manager and received this error

“MMC could not create the snap-in”

The Fix

On the server running VisualSVN Server, you need to store the User name and password for the network server that has the repositories.

Go to Control Panel –> Stored User Names and Passwords:

Click Add and input the logon properties for the network share:

Close and re-open VisualSVN Server Manager and everything should be working now.

Giddy Up!

Merry Christmas 2009

erik.nospam@nospam.eriklane.com (eriklane) — Thu, 25 Dec 2008 04:27:00 -1200

Taking a few minutes to to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas and I hope that your celebration of Jesus's birth is a great one.

Being of good holiday spirit and a good sense of humor, I would like to share a quote from a famous character in history....Linus from "A Charlie Brown Christmas". I tried finding the audio clip but it was nowhere to be found.

Luke 2:8-14

And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid. And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord. And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger. And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.

Migrating from Visual SourceSafe to Subversion

erik.nospam@nospam.eriklane.com (eriklane) — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 13:54:00 -1200

For the the last few years I’ve worked with Visual SourceSafe (VSS), Vault, StarTeam, and Subversion. For me, the easiest and most straight forward is Subversion (SVN). Don’t get me wrong, if you come from VSS there is a mind shift to how SVN works but it is well worth it. After I started my last job and I saw that we still used VSS I immediately started pushing for the change to anything but VSS.

This week I got the approval to start migrating all of our source from VSS over to SVN. There is a great tool to help with that called VSSMigrate. Reading through the comments I found that Tim Erickson had created a new version written in C# using SharpSVN (10/22/2008 comment). Sweet Action!

The tool is really good and does an excellent job. After running the migration I realized that all of the VSS bindings are still in the project/solution files and that the VSS "*scc" files were in SVN. I used this codeproject article as the basis for the functionality I added that removes all of the VSS binding information and doesn't import any of the *scc" files.

I emailed the guys at PowerAdmin and the original author but in the event that it doesn’t get posted anywhere I wanted to make it available.

[update this project is now on Codeplex. Please post issues or comments there. Thanks!]

VssMigrate.Tim2.zip (8.95 mb)

[update: after Dan's comment here is an x86 version that should work on 64 bit systems]

VssMigrate.Tim2(x86).zip (8.95 mb)

Giddy Up!

Use the Theme Default Gravatar in BlogEngine.NET

erik.nospam@nospam.eriklane.com (eriklane) — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 13:53:00 -1200

When I was setting up BE.NET I was glad to see it had support for Gravatars. What I don’t like are the options available for people that don’t have one. My option was to use MonsterID, Wavatar, or Identicon. Those are pretty good but I wanted a more generic looking default…and less goofy looking.

So I went in and added an option to use the selected theme’s icon.

I added the option in the admin/pages/Settings.aspx page. Saving it to the data store works without hitch since it just a name value pair. Getting the theme’s icon to display requires a little bit of setup.

Theme Default Avatar

You need to add a noavatar.jpg image at the root of your theme’s folder. Then update the BlogEngine.Core.Web.CommentViewBase.cs file:

switch (BlogSettings.Instance.Avatar)
{
case "identicon":
imgLink = gravatar + "identicon";
break;
case "wavatar":
imgLink = gravatar + "wavatar";
break;
case "monsterid":
imgLink = gravatar + "monsterid";
break;
default:
imgLink = gravatar + HttpUtility.UrlEncode(Utils.AbsoluteWebRoot + "themes/" + BlogSettings.Instance.Theme + "/noavatar.jpg");
break;
}

Giddy Up!

How to Move from .Text (Dottext) to BlogEngine.NET

erik.nospam@nospam.eriklane.com (eriklane) — Sun, 02 Nov 2008 18:54:00 -1200

Back story

My wife and I's blogs have been running on an archaic customized version of .Text for much longer than it should have. It did the job so it kept getting moved down the to-do list; not to mention I was not looking forward to the data conversion. David upgraded the server to x64 and after a few tests it was clear that the blog wasn't going to run. Briefly, I thought I could just recompile in .NET 2.0 and fix a couple of the stored procedures and be done with it. Thankfully, I came to my senses and decided it was time to bite the bullet and make the jump to something else.

GraffitiCMS and BlogEngine.NET (BE.NET) were the two that I considered because they each could accept a BlogML file of all existing posts. That would be awesome if my posts where in a BlogML formatted file. I checked out Rss2BlogML but it kept failing...something with the formatting of my RSS feed. I realized that I was spending time on getting my blog into BlogML and I'm not even sure it will produce the results I want (read where Dave Donaldson mentioned an issue with redirects for old links if they are not "named" posts in GraffitCMS). None of my posts are "named" and I wanted a way to keep/update my old links. So I started down the path of doing the conversion in a more manual fashion.

BE.NET has a pretty slick BlogImporter web service that abstracts away the data repository and it would've done the trick with just a little bit of coding on my part (highly recommend looking at that option). I have and understand the .Text database and so hitting the database directly seemed like a logical way to go for me. When I jumped onto this path I felt that GraffitiCMS was out of the picture because of the redirect issues and, having the code to BE.NET, I felt I could get BE.NET to produce the results I was wanting.

Everything after this assumes that you already run the BE.NET database setup scripts and have the BE.NET source code.

Files

Here are the files that I added or modified as part of this process including the SQL script.

Updating BE.NET Database

Thanks to Dave Burke's migration script most of the work was already done for me. I will summarize it here but please go read it since he explains the script in detail. Generally speaking, we are going to add the .Text postID and .Text CategoryID to BE.NET so we can use them to link posts, comments, and categories back together once the data is in the BE.NET database. I told you you needed to go and read Dave's post. :-)
Following along like a kid in school, I took good notes and updated the CommunityServer references to the .Text equivalent. In my script, these are the items that you need to update for your personal settings:

BlogID
Author
Default email address for the comments.

I ran the db script a few different times for each of our blogs so I think it is pretty solid.

Updating BE.NET Post Class

In BlogEngine.Core project I added a DottextPostID property to the Post class.

private int _dottextPostId;
///<summary>
/// Dottext Post Id to handle migrated links.
///</summary>
public int DottextPostId
{
get{ return _dottextPostId; }
set { _dottextPostId = value; }
}

Update DbBlogProvider Class

In BlogEngine.Core project I modified the DbBlogProvider.SelectPost(Guid id) method to populate the Post object with the DottextPostId value from the database.

string sqlQuery =
"SELECT PostID, Title, Description, PostContent, DateCreated,"
+ "DateModified, Author, IsPublished, IsCommentEnabled,"
+ "Raters, Rating, Slug, DottextPostID "
+ "FROM " + tablePrefix + "Posts "
+ "WHERE PostID = " + parmPrefix + "id";
///
/// unchanged code left out
///
if (rdr.HasRows)
{
rdr.Read();
post.Id = rdr.GetGuid(0);
post.Title = rdr.GetString(1);
post.Content = rdr.GetString(3);
if (!rdr.IsDBNull(2))
post.Description = rdr.GetString(2);
if (!rdr.IsDBNull(4))
post.DateCreated = rdr.GetDateTime(4);
if (!rdr.IsDBNull(5))
post.DateModified = rdr.GetDateTime(5);
if (!rdr.IsDBNull(6))
post.Author = rdr.GetString(6);
if (!rdr.IsDBNull(7))
post.IsPublished = rdr.GetBoolean(7);
if (!rdr.IsDBNull(8))
post.IsCommentsEnabled = rdr.GetBoolean(8);
if (!rdr.IsDBNull(9))
post.Raters = rdr.GetInt32(9);
if (!rdr.IsDBNull(10))
post.Rating = rdr.GetFloat(10);
if (!rdr.IsDBNull(12))
post.DottextPostId = rdr.GetInt32(12);
post.Slug = !rdr.IsDBNull(11) ? rdr.GetString(11) : "";
}

Update UrlReWrite HttpModule

In BlogEngine.Core project I updated the UrlReWrite module to catch any old .Text links that are coming to the site. By snagging the archive regex expression from the .Text web.config I saved myself some time.

private static readonly Regex DOTTEXT = new Regex(@"/archive/\d{4}/\d{2}/\d{2}/(?<postId>\d+)\.aspx$", RegexOptions.IgnoreCase | RegexOptions.Compiled);

Modify context_BeginRequest
Added an else statement to look for any .Text links.

/// unchanged code left out
///
else if (url.Contains("/AUTHOR/"))
{
string author = ExtractTitle(context, url);
context.RewritePath(Utils.RelativeWebRoot + "default" + BlogSettings.Instance.FileExtension + "?name=" + author + GetQueryString(context), false);
}
else
{
Match match = DOTTEXT.Match(url);
if (match.Groups.Count > 0)
{
int postId;
if (int.TryParse(match.Groups["postId"].ToString(), out postId))
{
RewriteDottextPost(context, postId);
}
}
}

Added ReWriteDottextPost Method

This method locates the right BE.NET post from the .Text post Id in the url, creates the new link, and sends back a response code of 301 so sites know that the link has been permanently moved.

private static void RewriteDottextPost(HttpContext context, int postId)
{
Post post = Post.Posts.Find(delegate(Post p)
{
return p.DottextPostId == postId;
});
if (post != null)
{
string redirUrl = string.Format("{0}://{1}{2}", context.Request.Url.Scheme, context.Request.Url.Authority, post.RelativeLink);
context.Response.AppendHeader("location", redirUrl);
context.Response.StatusCode = 301;
context.Response.End();
}
}

Update Links in Content

This step is optional because the updated UrlReWriter will catch any of the old links, to my own content, in my posts but I did it for a clean break from .Text. Beware that depending on your URL structure (blog.domain.com, www.domain.com/blog, etc.) you'll need to update the code so the regex used will catch your specific URL's. Be sure and backup your BE.NET database or be prepared to do the whole conversion again (like I did) if the links don't turn out the way you want.

Created ConvertDottextLinks.aspx admin page.
This page can go anywhere but I put it in the admin section so it's not open for everyone. I load up all of the posts in the database, find those which have old .Text links to my own content, find the new BE.NET post for that link, and create the new link for that post.

It is one aspx page with a button and literal on it and here is the code-behind:

public partial class admin_Pages_ConvertDottextLinks : Page
{
private static readonly List<Post> postList = BlogService.FillPosts();
protected void Page_Load(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
}
protected void btnGo_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
// update this regex with your URL structure.
Regex regex = new Regex("href\\s*=\\s*(?:\\\"http://blog.eriklane.com/archive/\\d{4}/\\d{2}/\\d{2}/(?<postId>\\d+)\\.aspx)",
RegexOptions.IgnoreCase
| RegexOptions.Multiline
| RegexOptions.Compiled
);
int count = 0;
postList.ForEach(delegate(Post post)
{
if (regex.IsMatch(post.Content))
{
string updatedContent = regex.Replace(post.Content, new MatchEvaluator(convertLink));
post.Content = updatedContent;
post.Save();
count++;
}
});
listResult.Text = string.Format("Finished! - {0} links were converted.", count);
}
private static string convertLink(Match match)
{
int dottextPostId;
if (int.TryParse(match.Groups["postId"].ToString(), out dottextPostId))
{
Post linkPost = postList.Find(delegate(Post post) { return post.DottextPostId == dottextPostId; });
return "href=\"/post/" + linkPost.Slug + BlogSettings.Instance.FileExtension;
}
return match.ToString();
}
}

Copy Images

This will be totally dependent on how how you store your images. I've kept all of mine in one folder so mine "just worked" by copying the image folder over. However, you could update your image links to use BE.NET's image HttpHandler to serve them up. If it were me, I would do it similar to how I updated the content links.

Update Feedburner

You will need to update Feedburner with the new BE.NET feed URL (http://yourdomain.com/syndication.axd).

Conclusion

After all of this I have:

All of the posts.
All of the post comments.
All posts are in the correct categories.
All old links are caught and redirected.

These steps pretty much sum up what I did to convert a our .Text blogs over to BE.NET. It's not a point and click operation but it wasn't as painful as I was expecting.

New(er) MSDN Magazine Column

erik.nospam@nospam.eriklane.com (eriklane) — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 00:07:00 -1200

I've been trying to catch up on my reading and came across a new (since June) column in MSDN magazine that I think is very good and all of us developers can benefit from. The column is called Patterns in Practice and currently authored by Jeremy Miller from codebetter.com. If you've ever ready any of his blog then you know that Jeremy is a smart guy and usually focuses on topics that are about good programming techniques and not to a specific technology (although he's a .NET guy) and this column is no different.

The articles try to represent a real-world issue and an approach to solve it with tried and true programming patterns (has code samples, etc.). For me, this gets me thinking of how I could've done something better on a previous project or how I can do something better on current and future projects. Either way, I hope they get us all thinking of how we can hone our skills and become better developers.

Even if you don't have access to the print version of the magazine they are all available online.

June column - The Open Closed Principle

August column - Object Role Sterotypes

RSS feed

Giddy Up!

This Day in Geocaching History...

erik.nospam@nospam.eriklane.com (eriklane) — Sun, 22 Jun 2008 16:52:00 -1200

We began our Geocaching journey 5 years ago on June 22, 2003. In late 2002 I remember seeing a show on the Travel Channel "Top 10 Lost Treasures" and #7 on the list was Geocaching (couldn't find a link). Using a handheld GPS to go "treasure hunting" was very appealing. It wasn't until the following summer when I was looking for something that the entire family could do and would also get us outside.

Being the geek that I am I immediatly started Googling and trying to remember that show or what the sport was called because I could remember the show in my head but I couldn't remember the name. I guess it didn't take long and the next thing you know I had created us an account on Geocaching.com. After just a few minutes I was amazed at all of the caches that were around our house. The next step in the process was to buy a GPS. I found a Magellan Meridian GPS on sale at Fry's and the Wife Acceptance Factor was high since Geocaching was going to be a family sport. We bought the GPS and headed out the following weekend. We didn't take the camera with us on our maiden voyage but we did on our second outing and here is one of those photos.

Fast forward 5 years and here is photo from two weeks ago when were geocaching here in Colorado. Everyone has grown up and we have added another kid to the team...not to mention I look a bit older too.

In the last five years Geocaching has really become common place with outdoor sports and there is software and tools all over the place to help out. My two favorite pieces of software are CacheStats (written in .NET) and Geocaching Swiss Army Knife (GSAK). When we started out we were all about the numbers...trying to find as many as we could and as fast as we could. After the second year we really slowed down and tried to enjoy the whole caching experience. Somewhere along the way we decided to start tracking which states we had cached in. Here is the most current map of the states that we've physically found a cache in (35 + Washington DC).

Well, enough memories for now. Since moving to Colorado we have really picked up the caching bug again and are excited about caches out in the mountains that require hiking, etc. and that has increased our enjoyment yet again. God is good!

Giddy Up!

ReSharper 4.0 beta for VS2008 is Out

erik.nospam@nospam.eriklane.com (eriklane) — Fri, 23 May 2008 05:09:00 -1200

I recieved a notifcation email last night from JetBrains that ReSharper 4.0 beta is out and can be downloaded here.

UPDATE (6/10/08): ReSharper 4.0 has been released. Good Stuff!

Don't Wait To Become a Better Developer

erik.nospam@nospam.eriklane.com (eriklane) — Tue, 13 May 2008 02:32:00 -1200

Yesterday I ranted a little about how some just wait until a feature shows up in a Microsoft product before they'll even look at it...and how I use to be that guy. My jumping off point was when I finally took the time to investigate Test Driven Development (TDD). He may not remember it, but Scott Dockendorf was working with me at Healthvision and he gave us a demo on TDD. Like everyone else, I blew over it pretty fast because I knew we weren't going to change our corporate dev style. Soon after he jumped ship for Telligent and never looked back. :-)

When TDD started to click for me I finally woke up and realized that if I was going to be good at my profession then I couldn't wait on my employer (or Microsoft for that matter). This profession moves too fast and for everything I think I know there are 1000 things that I don't know. I'm not an extremist either, meaning that if it has MS attached to the name or process I don't automatically discount it like some. I will, however, take the time to look at ways to increase my productivity and ability to perform my job. It is such a blessing that a company pays me money to write code for a living and that's the least I can do for them.

Giddy Up!

.NET Rocks! and the State of Visual Studio Team System 2008

erik.nospam@nospam.eriklane.com (eriklane) — Mon, 12 May 2008 04:11:00 -1200

I'm no ALT.NET guru but I have decided that it doesn't have to have the Microsoft (MS) stamp to get me to look at it. I recall when I was "that guy". You know, the guy who would hear about non-MS options and glance over them. If it was that important and that good then MS would be doing it, right? The answer to that question is yes AND no. The reality is that we're all trying to do our best and serve the customers that pay us to write code. MS is the same and they do what is best for their business model which means that they can be reactive at times - just like everyone else.

Recently I was Listening to an episode of .NET Rocks!. It was show #328 with Joel Semeniuk on the State of Team System. All I can say is - what!? I mean he's talking about the new Continuous Integration (CI) feature of Team System 2008 Suite and how valuable it is. No doubt, CI is valuable but what get's me is that they all are discussing it as though CI is a new concept. Let's be fair and mention the fact that MS is being reactive and Team System is late to the CI party. The sad fact is even tough CI has been around for a long time most enterprises will not even look at it until it has the MS stamp of approval.

Giddy Up!

Review - uCertify PrepKit for Exam 70-528

erik.nospam@nospam.eriklane.com (eriklane) — Thu, 01 May 2008 15:45:00 -1200

I was contacted by uCertify requesting that I do a review of their certification PrepKit software. I agreed because I was already studying for the MCTS exam 70-528 and wanted to see if their software would really be an asset to passing the exam. Initially, I wanted to use only their software to study for the test and then write my review. I felt that would be a great way to write a quality review of their product. Since agreeing to do the review my study efforts have diminished (moving to Colorado, taking a new job, etc.) but I still wanted to put together a review of their product.

Product: 70-528-CSHARP PrepKit
Cost: $59.99 (use discount code “ERIKLA“ and receive 10% off)

Likes:

The UI is very well done, easy to navigate, and easy to look at.
The quiz feature is the strongest feature of the program. You can select the number of questions from each focus area and then take the quiz. One nice touch is that after you answer the question the timer goes directly to 5 secs. and then goes to the next question. That's enough time to see your answer but yet you don't have to take your hands off of the keyboard to go to the next question.
Study notes are useful as they match up with the exam objectives. They state the objective and then provide a summary review of that objective.
Exam objectives with notes are nice as well. It is similar to the study notes but instead of a summary it provides an in-depth review of the objective.
Reports are a nice feature that show your progress from the diagnostic exam through the simulated test.

Dislikes:

I didn't like the flash cards feature. The main reason is that it gives you a text area to type in your answer. Although this may be helpful to some, I didn't want to take the time to type out my answer when I can just think it and then compare to the actual answer.

So-So:

Articles are nice for further development but not critical for studying for the exam.
Study tips, again, are nice for further development and are great for someone who has never written code associated exam but it's not critical for the exam.
HowTo's are not critical but are a nice feature that walk you through, via screen shots, how to do a lot of the tasks associated with passing the exam.

Conclusion:

For me, the uCertify product is great add-on for prepping for the exam. I say add-on because I don't feel comfortable saying this tool could be used as the only source to prepare for the exam; especially if someone has no practical experience in the area covered by the exam. My study style will still be to write code and use technical books and study guides to ensure I know how to do the tasks that are covered in the exam. I certainly would use uCertify for their quizzes and test simulations as I get closer to taking the exam. I think that's a good strategy and for $60 it's a good deal as well.

Update: The great people over at uCertify will give a 10% discount on the uCertify PrepKit of your choice when you use discount code “ERIKLA“.

The Great Calendar Sync Debacle

erik.nospam@nospam.eriklane.com (eriklane) — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 17:24:00 -1200

Over the last few weeks my wife and I have come to the realization that knowing each other's schedules would be really helpful and we've started down the path of sharing our calendars.

Our setup:

Me (work): I use Outlook 2003 100%.
Me (personal): I use my Google Apps for Your Domain (GAFYD) calendar.

Wife: Outlook 2007 100%.

One of our primary goals was to try and find a free way to accomplish this task. After some looking around, the consensus is that we will use Google Calendar (GCal) as our go-between. I looked at what Scott Hanselman is doing since I've heard him talk about this on his podcast. He uses SyncMyCal which can probably do everything my wife and I are needing except that it fails the free requirement.

I then looked at Google's Calendar Sync tool but it will only sync up with the primary calendar. That's no good - even if my wife and I shared our GCal's we couldn't sync with each other's and so it didn't seem like that would work either. I threw out a tweet looking for suggestions and I got some great feedback (Twitter is great for things like this).

Prokrammer had the best idea that I thought might work for us and still be free. He recommended that I use the Google Sync tool since it was free, but create a GCal for my wife on my domain and have us both sync with it. Because this new calendar was in my domain I could grant myself full rights to it and could edit as needed. With this setup I would one-way sync my work calendar to it and then my wife would 2-way sync it with her Outlook calendar.

I would be providing my wife with my work calendar and she would be giving me her personal calendar via GCal. I would then use her shared GCal as my primary calendar and will make all of my personal appointments on it. Then, she too would get them when she synced up.

This sounded like it would do the trick...All the planning in the world doesn't take into account software failure. The GCal sync tool, for some reason, can not access my wife's calendar. It gives a beautiful error "Could not connect to Microsoft Outlook: error -2147319779, code 0".

Unless Google provides and update with the fix I guess we will have to bail on the free requirement and purchase something.

Giddy Up!

Some Stuff

erik.nospam@nospam.eriklane.com (eriklane) — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 09:06:00 -1200

Things around here have been busy that's for sure. After spending the last year in Baltimore with Advertising.com I'm now a full time employee at Ciena. In addition to the new job we've also moved to the Colorado Springs, CO area and we're loving it. I'm getting the opportunity to work from home most of the time but have to make a trip up to Denver a couple of times a week and work in the office. The commute isn't bad and even when it's slow it's still nothing compared to DFW traffic.

Nothing special on the technical front is happening at the moment although I am enjoying the challenge of introducing Continuous Integration and Test Driven Development to my new team. I've got a couple of blog posts on using Entlib to create your own providers, etc.. but I don't think I'll be finishing them. However, I am using Entlib for audit logging so I may try and piece some of them together for something technical.

On a personal note, I did pass the Microsoft 70-536 exam at the end of the year - so I guess now I know I can pass a written exam to prove my knowledge? I know there are discussions on how much value certs add and I'm on the side of “they are worth the effort“. While I don't think they imply you're a coding superstar I don't think they hurt. In studying for exams (or interviews) I've learned a lot that I wouldn't have known about just in my daily coding. Now I have that knowledge in my tool belt for later use.

Because I no longer work in an office of developers everyday I've really taking a liking to Twitter. I can now have some pretty good technical discussion on there. Onward and upward.

Giddy Up!

Prayer Request for Stefan

erik.nospam@nospam.eriklane.com (eriklane) — Thu, 25 Oct 2007 09:19:00 -1200

Just a few months ago a fellow contributor to AC180.com, Stefan, found out that he has Stage 4 Colon Cancer. Tomorrow he will be going in for his first surgery where the doctor will look around inside and try and remove as much of it as possible and bathe the remaining organs in direct chemo.

Please remember Stef, his family, and his doctors in your prayers.

Thanks and God Bless.

Amazon MP3 Downloads

erik.nospam@nospam.eriklane.com (eriklane) — Tue, 23 Oct 2007 09:08:00 -1200

I was itching for some new music and so I took the opportunity to checkout the Amazon Mp3 service. I downloaded and installed the Amazon MP3 Downloader and I was off and running. The first album to buy was a toss up:

New Thousand Foot Krutch - The Flame in All of Us
Old Project 86 - Songs to Burn Bridges By

You can see that I opted for the new TFK album.

You can have the downloader automatically add your tunes to your iTunes library but I like my file names in a particular format. So I use Media Monkey to rename all of the files and then manually add them through iTunes.

I've been using iTunes since I purchased an iPod (like most people) and it is OK. Since it's just "OK" I'm on the lookout for a way to completely move away from it. With the Amazon Mp3 service out I feel like I am one step further in than plan.

I really need a good podcast solution first before I'll be able to drop iTunes all together. If anyone has one please share it!

A Great Visual Guide to Source Control

erik.nospam@nospam.eriklane.com (eriklane) — Fri, 12 Oct 2007 01:53:00 -1200

I've expressed by thoughts on source control and I still believe it is a vital part of any development project. I guess it's just misunderstood. Thanks to BetterExplained.com we now have a great visual example of it.

[via RossCode]

Remote Assistance with Copilot

erik.nospam@nospam.eriklane.com (eriklane) — Mon, 24 Sep 2007 15:11:00 -1200

Copilot's tag line is "Safe. Secure. Simple". I would agree 100%.

I used Copilot this past weekend to help out my in-laws and it was easy to use and well worth the $5. I love helping people with their computers but doing it over the phone, where you can't see what's happening on the other end, can be very painful. I wanted something that would be simple to use for my in-laws but give me the control that I needed.

With Copilot all my father-in-law did was go to Copilot.com and enter the invitation code I read to him over the phone. He then downloaded the small app, click a couple of buttons, and then I had control of his machine. I needed to work on my monther-in-laws machine too and the $5 was good for 24 hours and no restrictions for the number of machines I could connect to. Cheap and easy!

Giddy Up!

From Saul to Paul - A Complete 180

erik.nospam@nospam.eriklane.com (eriklane) — Sun, 23 Sep 2007 08:48:00 -1200

I've been as asked to be a contributor over at A Complete 180 (from Saul to Paul). This will be something totally new for me and I'm looking forward to it. Living outside of your comfort zone is when you grow the most - I should grow a lot.

If you're not familiar with the site I suggest you stop by. Here is a blurb from their mission statement.

"...Yet, like all men, we face a world and systems that challenge our intentions each day. We don't give up or quit. We battle. We fight. We band together as brothers. We pray. We seek grace. When we fail, we ask forgiveness. At our core, we want all men to do the same. It’s the very mission and prayer of each of the authors and contributors of ac180.com."

Thanks Aaron.

Giddy Up!